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dispatches from the new world of work

2009 Recalibration: Part 6

Is your internal brand clear and compelling?

Throughout this series I've encouraged you to "recalibrate" your approach to your business by addressing six questions:

1. Where is the latent profit in your business?
2. How can your current customers help you unleash that latent profit?
3. How does the economic situation help you focus your new customer acquisition efforts?
4. Is your brand strategy right for the times, i.e., what do you want your customers to think about you?
5. Are you communicating optimally with customers at all touchpoints?

And ... the subject of today's post:

6. How clear and compelling is your internal brand?

[Download a PDF from Yastrow.com presenting the six steps graphically.]

Our theme all along has been that your world has completely changed, not only because the economic situation is new, but because the economic mayhem has changed the way your customers think, act, decide, judge, evaluate ... and live. You have to recalibrate, because your customers are recalibrating.

What about the people who work in your company? Two very important points:

1. Your employees/colleagues are also living in a different world, which changes the way they think, act, and decide. Who do you know that's doing their job today the same way they did a year ago?
2. Recalibration is a company-wide affair. In our previous articles in this series we have discussed how your company must interact with its customers differently, and communicate its story in a way that is relevant with the times. Your ability to do this depends on the entire team working off the same page, communicating one clear, compelling, relevant story to customers.
So, how clear and compelling is your internal brand? Does the entire team have a "shared belief of who we intend to be" that transcends the generic language of mission statements, helping everyone understand how the company is recalibrating and what their personal role is in this change?

This economic turmoil, and the 24-hour news cycle that promotes it, has caused significant uncertainty in people's lives. There is a number no one can calculate, which I am sure is in the trillions, that describes the number of work hours wasted this year as people fret over their own circumstance or commiserate with people about "what might happen."

As 2009 began, a client and I were preparing to share a new brand strategy with their team, which included about 400 employees. The strategy was designed to help both employees and customers think of the company in a whole new way, representing a new direction in which the company was headed. We were scheduling a series of employee meetings where we would describe the strategy and then engage the employees in discussions about how they could fulfill this strategy in their work. Unfortunately, as was happening in so many companies this past January, my client's company went through a staff reduction, cutting about 5% of its workforce. Questions came up: Is it appropriate to have branding workshops at a time when we're cutting staff? After all, doesn't this seem superfluous when people are losing their jobs?
As the CEO of this company agreed, this was exactly the time to move forward with this initiative, full-steam ahead. In a time of uncertainty, people in your company need clarity and confidence, and one of the best ways to give them clarity and confidence is to ensure that they know exactly where the company is headed, what it is doing to engage customers, and what each person in the company's role is in creating the company's future.

A strong internal brand is critical anytime, but it's especially critical now. Assume that your mission statement is outdated, incomplete, and irrelevant. Focus on creating a "shared belief of who we intend to be" that will not only create clarity and confidence throughout your organization, but motivate people to participate in the most important project of 2009:

Recalibration.

Steve Yastrow posted this on 05/20/09.

Comments

Steve,

Great stuff to think about. As for the mission, vision, and values statement, you could hand printed copies of those to customers (internal and external) day-in and day-out, but it usually ends up being meaningless. What they WILL feel and remember is what they experience. In fact, I just did a short training video that's a freebie on our website that illustrates this. It's INTERACTIVE and if anyone cares to watch, it's called "Follow the leader" and can be seen at http://www.heartofexcellence.com/HoE-Videos.htm

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 20, 2009 9:37 AM

Internal brands are ridiculously important, and when the internal brand fails, it's usually the fault of management, not the employees. Take the following example from yesterday:

I was at a trendy clothing store with a friend and her 63-year-old mother. The mother had purchased one of those little shirts you find in trendy stores to give to her daughter, but it didn't fit. So, we were trying to get a refund. It's a common task that most stores handle easily. However, we were told this store has a policy of only issuing store credit-- they won't refund the money to a credit card.

The associate pointed out that the tiny print on the bottom of the receipt clearly states this policy, but my friend astutely noted that once you get a receipt, the transaction is already complete. What a squirrely internal policy that must have made sense in a board room, but doesn't help the poor associate trying to defend it to customers.

"That's okay," we told her, "We know you don't have the power to fix this problem, so let us have your customer service number." She replied, "I can't give out the customer service number in response to complaints about the refund policy. It's their policy." Well, this retailer has a policy for everything, eh? And a customer service department that won't accept customer complaints.

With all of these obstacles, how is this company helping their associates be the brand? And how many internal policies do you know that prevent employees from fulfilling the lofty ambitions of the mission statement?

Posted by Amanda Cullen at May 20, 2009 3:45 PM

Amanda, it sounds like they are indeed helping their associates be the brand... The REAL brand and not the fake one they want to fool the public into believing through clever advertising.

Think about where the term "brand" originated: take a distinctively shaped piece of iron, heat it red-to-white-hot in a fire, and press it against the skin of some poor animal.

It's a scar. It's there forever. Maybe a skin graft will help -- after all, Coca-Cola did manage to recover, but they were one of the exceptions, certainly NOT the rule.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 20, 2009 5:27 PM

The perception of the customer on your performance depends on everyday accomplishments and usefulness-rendered PROBLEM SOLVING.

Posted by Andres Agostini (Andy) at May 20, 2009 6:32 PM

Dan, you are one of us, for sure! I think Steve has even written blog posts describing the origin of the brand metaphor, much like your description. (I still use the term because there doesn't seem to be a better shorthand)

Here's a good newsletter Steve wrote on branding last year:

http://yastrow.com/nlarchive/brand-harmony_07-29-08.html

Unfortunately, you are right that the retailer taught the employee to behave in a way that doesn't promote sustainable profitability. However, like the cliche, I never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. Their loss prevention department that created the policy probably never talks to the marketing department, so the marketers have no idea how much their brand perception sucks. So, they continue on their merry way, creating pretty signs and new ad campaigns that don't resonate with the experience in the store.

Posted by Amanda Cullen at May 21, 2009 11:10 AM

Amanda, once again it's ALL about people... with a side order of good old fashioned "communication," of course.

A recommendation "so easy that even a caveman can do it:" have people from your marketing department, loss prevention, etc. simply go to a couple of stores, purchase a few items with a credit card, then go back and return something asking for cash. If the process is painful, do something about it.

Child's play.

I'll bet I could have gone in and charged that department store's management $Thousands for that advice and they'd listen. But listen to a CUSTOMER give the equivalent advice? You must be joking.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 21, 2009 11:47 AM

P.S.: Or use a "secret shopper" program. Actually holding folks accountable for DOING SOMETHING with the feedback you get.

Why do people make this stuff so hard???

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 21, 2009 11:49 AM

"Why do people make this stuff so hard???"

Hehe, that's the big secret. None of it is hard (:

Posted by Amanda Cullen at May 22, 2009 2:13 PM

Unsurprisingly I agree totally with Dan and Amanda. It seems to me some managers actually enjoy spending their whole career complicating stuff that is simple. I have no idea why. It is like they have a mission to over complicate the simple. Please God give me the strength to understand why anyone would want to do that :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 22, 2009 2:25 PM

Trevor,

Maybe they think that by making things appear complicated, it somehow fools others into thinking how valuable they are to the company. Instead of seeing companies dish out crazy bonuses from government bailout funds, I'd like to see a company C.E.O. do the following:

Call a company-wide, all-hands meeting. Stand on top of a checkout stand and shout "Hey, people, it's all about people. Treat them good, treat them fair, sell them decent stuff at decent prices, and tell the truth. All of this. ALWAYS. That's everything you need to know. That IS our policy and that is our ENTIRE policy manual. For real. We don't even need to write it down. Just do it. And I will do whatever is asked of me to help you do it. That's all I'm here for -- to help YOU help THE CUSTOMER. If YOU -- including a janitor -- catch ME doing ANYTHING BUT THAT, you are authorized to fire me on the spot."

If this fictitious event were to happen and he/she actually lived up to it, I'd say pay him/her a shitload of money because he's probably going to take the company to the top in a hurry.

"Sam Walton pretty much did it in his day. So, who's next? Damn, it sure did get quiet in here. Hello...? Where did everybody go?"

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 22, 2009 3:03 PM

JOB I ACTUALLY HAD DREAMS OF... (but was a nightmare for my wonderful fiance'):

My fiance' worked in retail for a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I don't want to be too specific or anything, but it's the only one in Columbus, Georgia. Management there SUCKED. They treated the good employees like garbage, then hired and catered to pals who didn't give a crap about customer service or teamwork and who stole everything that wasn't nailed down, and then they'd rip off a hammer and steal it anyway. I actually (honest-to-God, not kidding) had dreams about how cool it could be to manage the place.

It's the perfect (well, potentially perfect) family-friendly, themed restaurant. Hire a team of people who really show interest in good customer service. Dish out well prepared food (doesn't take a genius -- the company uses standard recipes, ingredients, and equipment... a 10 year old could learn to prepare it well.) Give the customers polite, timely service with lots of smiles. Plenty of local bluegrass bands and wannabe country music stars, so let them come out and play on the porch or even in the dining room. Have a couple of employees regularly play games with the kids. Treat the team well and let them know you will back them all the way to the home office for going out of the way to please customers, but you'll can their butts in a microsecond if they ever put good customer service second to ANYTHING else at work. It made me think about Tom's story of a little place called Valerio's -- a story that I don't think Tom was exaggerating about and it literally made my heart beat faster because I could sympathize... genuinely.

There's no legitimate or excusable reason on Earth for a place like a Cracker Barrel Restaurant NOT to be a fun place to work, eat or shop. But through careless management and politics, they've managed to make it a hell-hole. So much so that the day my fiance' said "I can't take this anymore" I said "Turn in your apron. What time do I need to pick you up." Neither of us have regretted it.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 22, 2009 3:24 PM

Dan –I’m with you - lets allow our imagination to roam on a wonderful Friday.

I think many managers just use this rubbish called complexity to cover their own a**. It is often just pretentiousness and an ego trip for managers. I was brought up by a front liner (my late beloved Dad) and I’ve worked alongside front line folks for my entire career of almost 40 years. The people on the front line are ALWAYS the folks who add real value. They just don’t understand and don’t WANT to understand the crap - they see straight through it. They get totally p****d off with management jargon that means absolutely nothing to the ordinary person on the front line. Bad managers invent language that is designed to confuse. And then they wonder why people won’t buy into their ideas.

When you are running that company my friend – make me your first employee and together we can introduce an immediate ban on acronyms; a ban on jargon; policies on a maximum of half a side of A4; no management ‘offices’; no job described as ‘manager’; … and so it goes on … It works for Mr Semler – it can work anywhere.

Great stuff Dan!

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 22, 2009 4:47 PM

Trevor, I've worked on both sides of the fence, had to ride it, and even felt like I'd been beaten with a piece or two of it at times. I understand the technical side, the jargon, etc. and I agree totally that it's 98% crap and 2% pure B.S. I guess that's why Tom's "stuff" has always resonated with me. Ideas like making sure that EVERYONE in the company understands at least how to read the balance sheet. How the hell else can you REALLY hold people accountable if you don't make things they need to know accessible?

A TRULY savvy leader knows that if you give everyone the real insight and knowledge to see how things are going, work with them to establish the goals, back them up in their efforts to achieve them (including tolerating occasional mistakes and failures as long as they are learning experiences and you can move on), and agree on MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REWARDS for successes, they'll do 99% of the "manager's" job, because they are the ones equipped and in a position to do it -- only better.

I've known MANY "managers" that intentionally turned themselves into glorified clerks and pencil pushers just to appear inundated with work in efforts to justify their jobs. And the bulk of what they were doing was just "busy" work that nobody even had a need or use for.

All this at the expense of the front-liners, because said managers were either too busy or too clueless (usually both) to actually SUPPORT them when needed. Then, when someone broke the chain of command out of desperation for some support, the troublesome manager would knife the "front-line" person in the back and make their work life miserable. Everybody suffered. Rare was the upper-level manager that was a true "leader," meaning someone that would get out there and figure out what was REALLY going on and do something about it.

When I hear the stories of companies cutting their corporate staff from 4,000 to 75, etc. it does not shock me. Because 99.999% of what most middle managers do DOES NOT ADD VALUE. In fact, it tends more often to impede the attempts of others to add value.

There can be beauty in the "work" in ANY business or organization. But it takes creating a culture that does not tolerate such nonsense. It's hard to find the beauty in anything when you're gagging and heaving from the stench of B.S.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 22, 2009 6:05 PM

Dan - The late Peter Drucker summed it up very well for me.

“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”

I really don’t have a downer on managers – I was one for most of my healthcare career. But the reality is that a manager’s role should be to let people free not to constrain them. Too many managers see their job as making life as difficult as possible for front liners. The best managers see their job as facilitator of making it easy for people at the front line who do the real work.

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 22, 2009 6:19 PM

I'll drink to that! A manager who turns into a "leader" actually inspires and facilitates, considering himself measurable at least in part by the success and growth of those he's leading. You can't beat it out of them, but you can lead them to it. Like I've said before, if it starts from the heart -- with passion -- the mind will follow. But without the desire to be a true leader, the academics amount to nothing.

In the end, it all shows to the customers and clients (internal and external) in the form of "experiences," and that's how the REAL BRAND surfaces.

Full circle to Thoreau: "What you ARE shouts so loudly in my ear that I don't hear what you SAY." [emphasis added but appropriate.]

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 22, 2009 6:30 PM

“Like I've said before, if it starts from the heart -- with passion -- the mind will follow.”

Dan – I agree with you totally on that. In my experience however too many managers live and act by this motto instead:

“If you grab them by their b***s, their hearts and minds will follow”

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 22, 2009 6:39 PM

Perhaps, Trevor. But then again, do you know how they get the bulls to buck in the rodeo? Some might see it as "rats are jumping ship," but it could just be their final, ultimate gesture of "bucking" the system.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 22, 2009 7:08 PM

Somehow I've missed this possible gem of a book, "Tribal Knowledge" by John Moore, which details the branding strategy of Starbucks, but I will be getting it soon. Meanwhile, I visited the website for the book and downloaded their 24-page "manifesto," which is full of good information. I especially refer to page 9 of the manifesto, to the subsection "Actions Speak Louder Than Advertising." If Tom has mentioned this book before, my apologies as I somehow missed it. But here's a link to their website if anyone wants to know more: http://tribalknowledge.biz/

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 24, 2009 8:42 AM

U.S. Supreme Court... does IT have internal branding? No doubt. And I think it's about to get a boost, with President Obama appointing Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice.

"The times they are a changing!" Diversity rocks. God Bless America.

Posted by Dan Gunter at May 26, 2009 9:42 AM